Program

In the days of the persecution of Christians in Armenia in Late Antiquity, a young woman is caught not just between two religions, but also between her husband and her former lover. Personal turmoil and ideological upheavals collide in an opera that risks the bold contrast between Italian bel canto and French Romanticism.

Museumsquartier instead of Naschmarkt, Halle E instead of Theater an der Wien... The 22/23 season brings with it not only the new artistic director Stefan Herheim, but also a new venue. We would like to continue to give all theater enthusiasts the opportunity to look behind the scenes and at the same time get to know our new venue.

The plot of this opera caused a sensation at the Theater an der Wien over 200 years ago when it was presented in another form: a woman disguises herself as a man in order to infiltrate a prison incognito and rescue her husband. But only a few months before Ludwig van Beethoven’s Fidelio, which is far better known today, Johann Simon Mayr’s opera premiered in Padua in 1805: a paean to marital love, in other words, "l’amor coniugale".

When wild children, inspired by the sounds of the family opera "Wo die wilden Kerle wohnen" and many colours conquer the mumok, things get extremely creative!